OM TAT SAT

A COLORFUL ROAD TRIP THROUGH INDIA

Molly Hamill

Last year, photographers Maria Cusumano and Mark Towner traveled to India together and brought back the images that comprise their show now on view at Endicott College, “Om Tat Sat: Reflections from Mumbai to Kolkata.”

The collection of images offers the viewer a smattering of India’s bold colors and a glance at scenes from a dynamic and complicated country. Both artists are on staff at Endicott, Cusumano a fine arts faculty member and Towner the dean of visual and performing arts.

“There was a plethora of sensuous stimuli wherever I went in India. I found while there only one place where my eyes could focus during each day which deafened the constant noise, slowed the incessant bustle, cleared the mind and brought to it any semblance of calm, peace, and introspection,” Cusumano writes in her artist’s statement. “For me, that focal point in India was the sun.”

Her image of a glowing solar orb setting behind the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya conveys this. The globular star radiates a warm ochre, silhouetting the tall holy structure. It’s an image that holds you. You can almost feel the heat of the sun on your face and the calm of the evening as daylight dwindles.